THE BOOK OF TALIESYN

"Taliesyn" is probably the weakest of the three first Purple albums. It is quite pyschedelic and the influence of "Vanilla Fudge" is obvious. The sound in general is quite outdated : the proof of time has not worked in favour of this release. I already mentioned that vocals from Rod Evans were too monocord and kind of boring on "Shades". The same applies with this album : just spin "Listen, Learn, Lead on" and you'll know what I am talking about. "Wring that Neck" is a good intrumental : it starts with a rageous keyboard solo in which Jon is pumping everything he can get out of his organ. Ritchie will follow with a great guitar break. This will be the trademark of the Purple for the years to come : same structure (but with vocals) for "The Flight of The Rat", "Highway Star" etc.). This track will be a classic in their live performances but extended quite a bit (to say the least! The version on "Scandinavian Nights" will get as long as thirty two minutes )! Listen carefully around 3'50" and 4'30" : these guitar notes will be re-used in "Smoke" during their 1972-1973 "Made In Japan". "Kentucky Woman" (a cover from a Neal Diamond song) is not a bad rock song : great rythm, good keyboarding from Jon. A powerful song and a mini-hit peaking at spot 38 (in the US since the band was still quite obscure in Europe). "Exposition" is an explosive instrumental piece (rendering part of Beethoven's Seventh !) leading to the Beatles cover "We Can Work it out" (the second one in two albums). Although it is not bad a cover, it is not so well achieved as "Help" from "Shades". Side B starts with the hypnotic "Shield" : a very good bass riff and a psyche organ sound make this track one of the best of this record. "Anthem" is a mellow song with some violin and a kind of a church organ in the middle section. Ritchie plays a nice guitar solo at the end. This track is quite enjoyable. The song I prefer on this effort is their cover for "River Deep, Mountain High" from Phil Spector (as a co-author) and popularized by Ike And Tina Turner : again an impressive Jon Lord during the intro (four minutes) which is built crescendo (I like it very much). It ends in a ferocious tempo. We are not far from what ELP will deliver. For once, the vocals are bearable. It will be released as a single and peak at Nr. 53 in the US (the original from Ike & Tina Turner will reach Nr. 88 only). There are five bonus tracks on the remastered version. Two leftovers from the studio sessions "Oh No No No" and "Playground" (instrumental) of which the intro sounds as "Hush". Both have some pyschedelic flavour, but this also applies to the whole album.. There are three songs from the BBC Top Gear Sessions : kind of studio "live" songs. "It's All Over" has a nice keys introduction, but "Hey Bop a Re Bop" is rather poor. Finally, there is a "human" version for " Wring That Neck" (same lenght as the original - even shorter) with good guitar work (Hendrix oriented) from Richie. The sound of these three tracks are poor. The album will only chart in the US (Nr. 54). I guess that this is due to their Vanilla Fudge oriented music more popular on this side of the Atlantic in those ancient times. Two stars.